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3 “324.01 ~ LIBRARY 
fas nett OF THE 

. MNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
“Y “SOCIALIST PARTY 


" CONGRESSION AL PROGRAM 


SIEFORE the war the industrial 
k Is Ems| life of every great nation was 
heer controlled by private individuals 
~ LX for private gain. A rapidly in- 
F ~ creased cost of living, widespread 
# XR poverty among the wage workers, 
meagre incomes for the professional 
class, and the concentration of immense 
_ wealth in the hands of a comparative 
es —these were the natural results of 
acl a world run in the interest of big busi- 
= ness. 
: = Every civilized nation was split into 
two warring camps: the non-producers 
St Swho owned, and the producers who 
 eserved. 
= ‘Then war came. It has challenged the 
sdomination of our economic life by 
private enterprise. Private operation 
Sand competition are being found totally 
% unequal to the strain of war. The in- 
>terests of the state become supreme. 
Underlying all the problems of inter- 
ational reconstruction is the greatest 
of all issues with which the world 
c “~~ stands faced. The state is dominating 
a industry. Who shall dominate the state? 
1s tee the answer to this question depends 
the future of mankind. 
_ Already the lines are forming. 
In every belligerent country, friend 
= ind foe alike, the men of power in com- 


| - ec 4 iO 74382 &. 


merce and industry are laying their 


plans openly to capture the trade of the > | 


world. 


Already these men seek to enlist the 


active support of their governments in 
these schemes of conquest to follow 
peace. The future of the world for them 
is a super-struggle for wealth and 


power; but in that game no mere in- — 


dividuals, but nations and governments 
themselves would be the pawns. 


Opposed to this, the ranks of labor 
are taking form. Within the belligerent 
nations the mass of the workers are 
gathering strength. The toilers, of hand 
-and brain alike, are building a new 
brotherhood in the unity of their 
demands. | 

“No forcible annexations, no punitive 
indemnities, self-determination of alli 
nations.” To the famous formula is now 
added: “‘No economic nationalism, no 
war after the war.” 


True to its historic mission, the So- 
cialist. Party of the United States seeks 


to prepare the workers of America to ~ 


take their part in the new fraternity of 
labor. 


The Socialist Party comes before the 
people pledged to the service of democ- 


racy. Democracy in government, dem- 


ocracy in industry, democracy. in educa- 
tion—during the war as well as after 
the war, the state, the industries, and 
education, all three must be owned and 


2 


» 


managed fs the Rane with no thought 
of profit. 

In the achievement of ieee aims the 
candidates of the Socialist Party in the 
congressional campaign stand pledged 
to the following principles and demands: 


A. INTERNATIONAL RECONSTRUC- 
TION. 


~ 


L Peace Aims. 


In all that concerns the settlement 
of this war, the American Socialist 
Party is in general accord with the 
announced aims of the Inter-Allied 
Conference. We re-affirm the principles 
announced by the Socialist Party in the 


- United States in 1915; adopted by the 


-~ 


Socialist Republic of Russia in 1917; 
proclaimed by the Inter-Allied Labor 
Conference in 1918 and endorsed by 
both the majority and minority Social- 
ists in the Central empires; no forcible 
annexations, no punitive indemnities 
and the free determination of all peo- 
ples. 

The Socialist Party believes that the 
foundations for international under- 
standing must be laid during the war, 
before the professional diplomats begin 
to dictate the world’s future as they 
have in the past. 

It therefore supports the demand of 
the Inter-Allied Conference for a meet- 
ing with the German workingmen, con- 
vinced that such a meeting will promote 
the cause of democracy, and will encour- 


3 


age the German people to throw off the 
military autocracy that now oppresses 
them. We join our pledge to that of the 
Inter-Allied Conference that, this done, 
as far as in our power, we shall not per- 
mit the German people to be made the 
victims of imperialistic designs. We pro- 


% 


test against the refusal of various Al- ~* 


lied governments to permit the free ex- 
change of opinion between the labor 
groups of the Allied nations, and we 
demand that passports be granted to 
bona fide representatives of labor 
groups regardless of their political and 
economic affiliations. 


2. Federation of Peoples. 


We call for a Federation of the Peo- 


ples of the World, neutral as well as 
present belligerents, and that this Fed- 
eration be organized at the time of the 
peace conference, 

Under the control of capitalist na- 
tions such a Federation would, of 
course, be used mainly for the purpose 
of making rules to govern the inter- 


national struggle for the markets of the . 


world and to aid the capitalist powers 
of different nations to keep down their 
own working classes whereas the So- 
clalist Party desires a federation of 
socialized nations for the purpose of co- 
ordinating the affairs of the world and 
establishing universal bretherhood. 

To minimize this danger, we demand 
as a first requisite to success, an ade- 
quate representation of labor and so- 


J 


clalist groups, women and suppressed 
races and nationalities, in each belli-. 
gerent nation at the peace conference 
and in all departments of the perman- 
ent Federation of Peoples. 


We further demand that in the or- 
ganization of such a Federation there 
be adequate provision for the exercise 
of legislative and administrative as well 
as judicial functions. The Federation 
should prevent international disputes 
rather than try merely to settle them 
after they arise. 


We propose that this Federation dev- 
elop a uniform monetary system and an 
adequate international control of credit 
and exchange, as well as such a regula- 
tion of the movement of trade as will 
best meet the needs of the various na- 
tions of the world. 

Under the authority of this Feder- 
ation must come all those matters which 
transcend national boundaries,’ especial- 
ly those concerned with colonization 
and foreign investment. 

We demand that the Federation take 
measures looking to the reduction of 
armaments to the point of eventual 
elimination. If the will to peace is there, 
economic pressure will be an adequate 
weapon against recalcitrants. And, 
finally, we demand that this Federation . 
shall give international recognition to 
the union principles of the minimum 
wage, systematic reduction of the hours 
of labor based on the development of 


5 


machinery, and the abolition of child 
labor. 

The keeping of the peace must be 
placed in the hands of those to whose 
interest it is to keep the peace—the 
workers of the world, and we therefore 
urge upon them the necessity of seek- 
ing continually and aggressively to 
secure control of their respective gov- 
ernments to the end that these policies 
be officially adopted by all the nations 
concerned. 


B. INTERNAL RECONSTRUCTION. 
1. Industrial Control. 


The private domination of industry 
for private gain has brought such 
disastrous consequences both among 
and within the nations of the world as 
tto make public ownership for public 
service the first necessity in any for- 
ward-looking plan of reconstruction 
both national and international. 

The Socialist Party, therefore, de- 
mands that all public utilities and basic 
industries of the United States be taken 
over by the people, and that this pro- 
cess shall be undertaken as speedily as 
is consistent with public order and 


security, and allowing for the utmost by 


possible degree of local autonomy. 

In the accomplishment of these ends 
the Socialist Party demands that com- 
pensation, if any, paid to the owners in 
no case exceed the original cost of the 
physical property taken by the people; 

6 


= = ~_7es 


that such compensation be paid as far 
as possible out of taxation and operat- 
ing revenues; that the unit of owner- 
ship—federal, state or city—should 
coincide as closely. as possible with the 
scope of the industry concerned; and 
that the operation of all public services 
be on a Strictly cost basis after allow- 
ing suitable reserves for depreciation, 
retirement of debts and new construc- 
tion. 


The Socialist Party candidates for 
Congress stand pledged to the support 
of the following specific proposals: 


(1) Railroads and Express Service. 
The full and permanent nationalization 
of the railroads and other .means of 
transportation. The canals, waterways 
and all essential means of transporta- 
tion should be developed as rapidly as 
possible and co-ordinated with the other 
means of transport into one unified, 
efficient and adequate system under 
public ownership. 

In the taking over of some 260,000 
miles of railways by the United States 
government, the correctness of the prin- 
ciples for which the Socialist Party 
stands, has been sustained. The guar- 
anteed highest profits to the companies 
and the method ofsadministration, how- 
ever, have proven the futility of all 
sham schemes of government control 
based on profits instead of a truly co- 
operative basis. So long as the owner- 
ship of the roads is left in private 


t 


hands, the government, and through 
the government, the people, must con- 
tinue to bear a vast burden of unearned 
income of over a billion dollars a year 
that represents nothing but the tribute 
paid to private capital. 


(2) Steamships and Steamship Lines. 


The Socialist Party demands full and 
permanent nationalization of the exist- 
ing American steamship lines and the 


permanent ownership and operation by * 


the government of all merchant vessels 
under the jurisdiction of the ‘United 
States Shipping Board. 

The vast additions now being made 
to our merchant marine should never be 
permitted to become the weapons of 
private interest in a struggle for trade 
supremacy. The sea-going vessels of 
the nation should be owned and operat- 
ed by the government. 


(8) Telegraph and Telephone. The 
telegraph and the telephone are as much 
essential parts of a national system of 
communication as the railroads. Every 
consideration which has demanded a 
national railroad system, demands also 
the nationalization of the wire service 
of the United States. 


The Socialist Party, therefore, urges 


the immediate nationalization of the 
telegraph and the telephone as an ab- 
solute social necessity and the operation 


of these lines as part of the postal sys- 


tem. 
8 


ry’ 


(4) Power. The co-ordination of coal 
mines, water power and the generation 
of electricity under national ownership 
and control has already been proposed 
by the English Ministry of Reconstruc- 
tion as the only possible policy for the 
British nation. The establishment of 
immense Super-power electrical plants 
in the vicinity of mines and waterfalls 
for the purpose of supplying current to 
large areas of consumers, including the 
railroads, offers unparalleled advantages 
in economy and efficiency of public ser- 
vice and the prevention of fuel famine. 
By such a system the cost of electricity 
could be so reduced and the service so 
extended that every household in the 
nation as well as every industrial es- 
tablishment and farm could be supplied 
with electrical energy at almost incre- 
dibly low rates. This is the inevitable 
future of electricity. 

The Socialist Party demands the im- 
mediate appointment of a _ Federal 
Power Commission with adequate rep- 
resentation of labor to make an exhaust- 
ive investigation into this subject and 
to recommend legislation to Congress 
which will embody a comprehensive 
power development policy, as well as 
proposals for the immediate nationaliza- 
tion of the coal mines and. the reclama- 
tion and conservation of all the great 
sources of water power. 


(5) Large Seale Industry. Like the 
British Labor Party, we believe that 


§ 


the people will not tolerate “any recon- 
struction or perpetuation of the dis- 
organization, waste and inefficiency in- 
volved in the abandonment of industry 
to a jostling crowd of separate private 
employers, with their minds bent, not 
on the service of the community, but— 
by the very law of their being—only on 
the utmost possible profiteering.” 
Every large scale essential industry 


3 


whose operations extend beyond the © 


borders of a single state must eventual- 
ly be owned and operated by the Federal 
Government at cost, for the benefit of 
the people as a whole. 

As immediate means to this end the 
Socialist Party demands a co-ordination 
and extension of functions now. exer- 
cised by the Government War Industrial 
Board, the War Trade Board, the Fed- 
eral Trade Commission, and the Federal 
Food and Fuel Administrations so that 
there may be built up a democratized 
and unified system of public regulation 
and control over all phases of large-scale 
industry in the interest of all the people. 


2. Democratic Management. 


Government ownership without demo- 
cratic management may become a 


greater menace to the world than the 


system of private ownership and ex- 
ploitation which is passing away. With- 
out the control of industry a democratic 
government may be a menace to the 
liberty of the individual. The addition 
of the immense power over public policy, 


10 


- 


and over the happiness of the masses, 
incident to industrial domination, in- 
tensifies the menace a thousand-fold. 

Self-government in industry is the 
first essential of a truly democratic na- 
tion, and the only guarantee of real 
freedom for the workers. The Socialist 
Party, therefore, demands that the 
right to organize be a fundamental 
right for all government employes; and 
that the right to strike be in no case 
denied or abridged. 

In all industries controlled by the 
government, there shall be established 
principles of democratic management 
of the conditions of employment by shop 
committees, elected by the workers. 

To prevent the use of the immensely 
increased number of government posi- 
tions for purposes of political patron- 
age, we demand that the merit system 
of appointment to civil service be ex- 
tended to every plant or industry as it 
is taken over by the government, but 
the political rights of such employes 


must be safeguarded. 


~~ 


As a means of strengthening the 
working class in its everyday struggle 
and fit it for this complete emancipation, 
we endorse the principle of industrial 
unionism. 


3. - Demobilization. 


With the problem of the returned 
soldier, and the cessation of war indus- 
tries imminent, there is urgent neces- 


11 


sity for a nativnal policy in the field of 
employment. 

The Socialist Party demands that the 
present efforts at co-ordination by the 
Department of Labor of federal and 
state employment agencies be developed 
into a permanent system to supplant 
private agencies, as follows: 

(a) The use of present labor union 
organizations as far as possible as bases 
for a service conducted under union 
conditions; 

(b) The rapid development of a sys- 
tem of vocational education ; 

(c) The organization of a construc- 
tion service, under proper standards of 
labor, to carry on the various govern- 
ment works and to provide apprentice- 
ship to returning soldiers and other 
workers for permanent employment in 
developing the land and natural resour- 
ces of the nation; 

(d) The acquisition and permanent 
holding by the Government of tracts of 
agricultural lands needed by returning 
soldiers and other workers. 


(e) Guaranteed employment for all f 


willing workers. 


4. The Structure of Government. 


The present structure of government 
is totally inadequate to assume the ad- 
ditional burden of industrial control. 

Organized on the theory of a separ- 
ation of powers and constrained by a 
rigid constitution, the President, two 
houses of congress, and the courts have 


12 


been checks and balances upon one an- 
other that have destroyed efficiency, 
and made ineffective the will of the 
people. Only by the domination of the 
executive and the servility of Congress 
has any effective action been secured. 
But the loss to democracy has been im- 
mense. 

The dictates of both efficiency and 
democracy demand a flexible constitu- 
tion and a‘ unified form of government. 
The President and the courts must be 
responsible to Congress and its mem- 
bers elected by the people without re- 
gard to sex and subject to their con- 
tinual control. 

The Socialist Party, therefore, de- 
mands: | 


1, That amendments to the United 
States Constitution be made upon the 
recommendation of a majority vote of 
Congress and ratification by a majority 
of the voters of the nation, or by initi- 
ative of the people. 


2. The abolition of the Senate, and 
the election of members of Congress by 
proportional representation subject to 
recall. Democratization of Congress- 
ional procedure, the terms of congress- 
men to begin soon after their election. 
The election of federal judges by the 
people subject to recall. 


3. The direct election of the President 
and the Vice-President subject to recall, 
and the abolition of the veto dower. 


13 


4. The abolition of the usurped 
power of the courts to declare acts of 
Congress unconstitutional. 

5. Responsibility of the President 
and his cabinet to Congress through the 
power of interpellation. 

6. Self-government for the District 
of Columbia. 

7. The initiative and referendum ap- 
plied to federal legislation. 

8. The immediate passage of the 
amendment to the Constitution of the 
United States establishing the right of 
women to the franchise, and adequate 
representation of women in legislative, 
judicial and administrative fields of 
government, that the interests of 
women may be the better safeguarded. 


5. Civil Liberties. 


The war has brought. restrictions on 
our constitutional rights of freedom of 
speech, press and assemblage which are 
not only unnecessary, but which men- 
ace the whole future of democratic in- 
stitutions and individual liberty. 

Mob violence, spurred on by the ut- 
terances of the conservative press, and 
of many men well known in public life, 


es challenges the orderly processes of 


democratic institutions. Exploiting busi- 
ness interests are deliberately using 
these restrictive measures to crush 
radical labor. Under the cloak of 
patriotism, they rob the consumer with 


14 


“a 


one hand and pile up huge war profits 
with the other. 

The vague language of the Espionage 
Act is being used not so much to deal 
with enemy spies, as to suppress all in- 
dependent expression of opinion, par- 
ticularly in relation to war policies and 
the class struggle. The post-office cen- 
sorship, under which scores of papers 
have been deprived of their second- 
class mailing privileges, is destroying 
the freedom of the press. 

The Socialist Party, therefore, de- 
mands the literal interpretation of the 
constitution and application of the civil 
liberties provisions of the constitution 
during war as well as peace. 

2. That mob violence be suppressed 
through the power of the Federal Gov- 
ernment. 

3. The immediate repeal of those 
clauses in the federal statutes which 
give the Postmaster General powers of 
censorship over periodicals and printed 
matter. It should be the business 
of the post-office department only 
to transmit mail matter, not to pass 
upon its mailability. The administration 
of sedition laws is the function of the 
Department of Justice. 

4.°The immediate reversal of the 
arbitrary acts of censorship by the Post- 
office Department, and the re-admission 
to second-class privileges of all news- 
papers and periodicals suppressed dur- 
ing the war for criticising the conduct 


15 


of the war, the acts of government of- 
ficials, or economic and social conditions, 
or for discussing terms of peace. 

5. The amendment of existing es- 
pionage legislation which will restrict 
its application to actual agents or sup- 
porters of the enemy and which will 
render impossible its further use as a 
weapon of the government against poli- 
tical opposition. 

6. The immediate repeal of all legis- 
lation restricting freedom of speech and 
of the press, and the immediate uncon- 
ditional pardon of all political prisoners. 


6. Taxation. 


The war has brought to the very 
forefront of importance the question of 
taxation. The colossal expenditures al- 
ready made in this war, of which, 
against the protests of the Socialists, 
but a small proportion has been raised 
through taxation, place a heavy burden 
of debt upon the future. After the war 
is over, capital will be needed for many 
social enterprises and the resources of 
the government must be vastly greater 
than ever before. Meanwhile colossal 
fortunes are being made over night, 
developing new and powerful spheres of 


financial influence. Means must be found . 


to discharge our huge public debt, raise 
the revenue necessary for the rapidly 
increasing functions of government, and 
at the same time solve the ever menac- 
ing problem of wealth concentration. 


16 


a 


oo 


To this end, we favor: 

1. The imposition of an excess pro- 
fits tax approximately 100%. No one 
should be permitted to secure profit 
from this war, while others are endur- 
ing untold sacrifice. 

2. A progressive income tax, aiming 
at the abolition of all incomes above the 
needs of a comfortable and secure liveli- 
hood. 

3. A progressive inheritance tax, 
rising to 100% in large estates. 

4. Taxation of the. unearned in- 
erement of land; all lands held out .of 
use to be taxed at full rental value. 

‘5. A more adequate corporations tax. 


7. Credit. 


During the past few decades, we have 
witnessed the creation of a huge em- 
pire of finance, dominated by a few 
financial masters. This control has led 
to the creation of great unearned for- 
tunes, to the making and unmaking of 
gigantic businesses, to the manipulation 
of national policy for the benefit of the 
few. 

The United States is rapidly becom- 
ing the greatest investing nation, of 
the world. If private interests still 
control the nations credit, a. policy of 


‘economic imperialism following the war 


will be inevitable. 

If this disastrous policy is to. be 
avoided and the community relieved of 
the burden of billions of dollars now 


17 


exacted by private financiers, the gov- 
ernment must completely and democra- 
tically control its banks and credit sys- 
tem. 

In the direction of such control, the 
Socialist Party demands: 

That all banks essential to the con- 
duct of business and industry be ac- 
quired by the government and incor- 
porated in a unified public banking sys- 
tem. 

2. As the government acquires 
ownership of industries, it shall sub- 
stitute for metallic money and the 
present form of paper money an_ in- 
creasing proportion of notes redeemable 
in the service and commodities furnish- 
ed by the government, thereby ultimate- 
ly eliminating entirely the necessity of 
maintaining a gold reserve, except for 
international trade relations. | 


8. Agriculture. 


Exploited by those in control of the 
railroads, the grain elevators, the 
creameries, the packing houses, cold 


storage - plants, banks, agricultural ° 


machinery, as well as by other owners 
of land, capital and life’s necessities, 


many farmers have been reduced to a °’ 


condition of poverty. 


Their ultimate interest and that of 


society at large may lie in the public 
or voluntary co-operative corporation ot 
farms supplied with the most improved 


machinery and the services of scientific - 


18 


we 


~ 


= 


experts—free scope being given to 
those farmers so desiring to continue 
individual operation. Immediately, how- 
ever ,the workers on the farms should 
be relieved of the oppression of big 
business. which fixes the prices. Espec- 
ially designed to afford relief in this 
direction, the Socialist Party pledges it- 
self to the following: 


1. Collective ownership of elevators, 
warehouses, flour mills, stockyards, 
packing houses, creameries, cold storage 
plants, and factories for the production 
of agricultural implements. 

2. Public insurance against diseases 
of animals, diseases of plants, insect 
pests, hail, flood, drought, storm and 
fire. 

3. The leasing of farm machinery by 
public bodies at cost. 


4. The encouragement of co-oper- 
ative societies for agricultural pur- 
poses. 

5. The application of the land values 
tax to land held for speculation and ex- 
ploitation; exemption of farm improve- 
ments from taxation. 


6. The retention by the national, 
state and local government of all land 
owned by them, and the continuous 
acquirement of other land by reclama- 
tion, purchase, condemnation, taxation 
or otherwise, such land to be organized 
as rapidiy as practicable into socially 
operated farms. 


19 


7. Encouragement of unions of agri- 
cultural workers. 

8. Extension of labor laws to agri- 
culture and the securing to agricultural 
laborers of minimum standards requi- 
site for a healthy life and worthy -cit- 
izenship. * 

9. We also call attention to the fact 
that the elimination of farm tenantry 
and the develoument of socially. owned 
and operated agriculture resulting from 
the foregoing measures will open new 
opportunities to the agricultural wage- 
worker and free him from dependence 
on the private employer. 


9. Conservation of Natural Resources. 


The steadily increasing concentration 
of natural resources in private hands 
has led to untold exploitation and to 
ruthless wastage of the nation’s raw 
material. If industrial democracy is to 
be secured, and if the material heritage 
of America is to be utilized in the inter- 
ests of the entire people, all natural 
resources—including mines, quarries, 
oil wells, forests and water power— 


must be brought under public owner- « 


ship and operation. As immediate 
measure toward this end the Socialist 
Party urges: 


pe 


1. The retention by the Federal Gov- ; 


ernment of all remaining public lands, 
and of all powers over public streams. 

2. Development by the government 
of a comprehensive system of national 
river regulation for the storage of flood 


20 


waters and their use for irrigation, 


~ 


hydro-electric power and navigation. 
3. The. acquisition and permanent 
holding by the Government of all moun- 
tain and other lands necessary for the 
protection of storage reservoirs and the 


‘conducting on such lands of timber 


operations, under forestry principles, 
to secure a continuous yield of lumber. 

4. The mining by the Government, 
and sale at cost, of mineral resources 
and of coal from the public domain. 

5. A comprehensive system of re- 
clamation of waste and arid lands. 

10. Labor Legislation. 

We believe that the intellectual and 
manual producers cannot obtain equal- 
ity of opportunity in the struggle of life 
until they democratically control the 


- fundamental industries of the country. 


But as a means of strengthening them 
in their struggle for industrial democ- 
racy we advocate: 

1. The re-enactment of legislation 
prohibiting the employment of child 
labor. 

2. Legislation securing absolute free- 
dom of labor to organize, to as to 
picket and to boycott. 

38. Special legislation for women 
providing for equal pay for equal work, 


_ restriction of hours and proper safe- 


guards to health and safety. 

4. The securing to every worker of a 
rest period of not less than a day and a 
half in each week. 


21 


5. The enactment of a minimum wage 
for men and women workers. 

6. Legislation providing for social 
insurance against sickness, injury, old 
age and unemployment. 

' 7, Legislation providing for a more 


effective system of inspection of work-. 


shops, factories and mines. 
11. Prisons. 

Our penal system, conceived in bar- 
barity and maintained through the 
callous indifference of those who frame 
and execute our laws, is a disgraceful 
survival of the feudal attitude toward 
life.. With rare exceptions, our prisons 
continue to be, as they have always 
_ been, breeding places of depravity and 


sources of moral and physical con- 


tamination. 

We demand that the entire system 
be replaced by a system governed by 
humanity and intelligence. 

To this end we pledge our best efforts 
through federal and state action to the 
following specific proposals: 

1. To substitute for punishment, 
such methods of treatment as may, in 
the shortest possible time, restore 


delinguents as’ useful members of 


society. 

2. The extended use of the suspended 
sentence and probation to the end that 
the benefits of the system may be ap- 
plied to the poor and friendless as well 
as to those who have social or political 
influence. 


22 


3. The application of the indetermin- 
ate sentence to all who may be commit- 
ted to penal, correctional or reformatory 
institution, with adequate provision for 

} parole and after-care of such persons. 
4. The abolition of death penalty. 
; 5. The abolition of the present sys- 
* tem of arbitrary and barbarous prison 
discipline and the substitution there- 
for of a system combining humanity, 
honor and self-government, with in- 
creasing emphasis on.productive indus- 
try, education and vocational training. 

6. The immediate and complete 
abolition of the contract system in 
prison labor. 


12. The Negro. 


The negroes are the most oppressed 
portion of the American population of 
which they form one-ninth. They are 
the victims of lawlessness, including 
hanging and burning; widespread poli- 
tical disfranchisement, and loss of civil 
rights. They are especially discriminat- 
yed against in economic opportunity. 

We therefore demand: 

1. That the negroes be accorded full 

-ybenefits of citizenship, political, educa- 
tional and industrial. 

2. That Congress shall enroren the 
provisions of the 14th Amendment by 
reducing the representation in Congress 

of such states as violate the letter or 
. spirit of the amendment. 


23 


CONCLUSION. 


In offering the above program, the 
Socialist Party warns the masses that 
it has reference to a dying social order. 9 
Our program is designed to assist in the — 
passing of this bankrupt system of capi-_ 
talism, not as a final substitute for it. » 
No security can be had from imperial- 
ism, trade and investment rivalries, 
reactionary diplomacy, intrigues against 
backward lands and peoples, militarism, 
and exploitation of the masses, without 
a complete transformation of capitalist 
society. Anything short of this com- | 
plete transformation, any program that 
leaves industry, finance, transportation _ . 
and natural resources in the hands of — 
exploiting groups, will perpetuate the 
causes of international discord and lead — 
to another world tragedy. The main — 
struggle of the masses is to secure con- — 
trol of these basic institutions and. this 
requires an education of the people to 
the necessity of such control. . 


In this work of education we ives 
the co-operation of all who recognize 
the opportunities for re-building the 
world on a basis of equity, democracy * 
and fraternity for all. “ 


Issued by the Nal Office, Social- 
ist Party, 803 W. Madison St., Chicago, ; 
Price, 5 cents per copy. aad 


IE se speabenentom tie on request. © 
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